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Just pulled the trigger on a 53 Scripty VS reissue

Been looking at these for a bit. I've been listening to the enthusiasm for how spot on they are. Well it's time to put it to the test. My 54 jet had a big v shape chunk neck. It felt awesome. My 56 silver jet had a baseball bat neck and again was killer. So let's see if Gretsch FMIC can get the neck correct. Doubt it's going to have a drum shell top?
Looking forward to it. I like TV Jones Dynas and I like the look of it. Here's a publicity pic until it arrives.

The neck is not a baseball bat, but it’s not a pencil either. I play mine almost exclusively these days, and I’m a fan of large necks, but the necks on these are just ‘there;’ they don’t call attention to themselves in any way.

The neck is not a baseball bat, but it’s not a pencil either. I play mine almost exclusively these days, and I’m a fan of large necks, but the necks on these are just ‘there;’ they don’t call attention to themselves in any way.

– seadevil

Well that's an interesting description of the neck. If its 'there' and your not aware of it that's a positive thing imo. What do you think of the finish? I'm presuming it's not nitro? I'm really not going into this with a view of it having to be an exact replica. It's never going to be anything other than a reissue so I don't want to be the bitchy vintage guy happily pointing out its flaws. £2k is what I paid and I'm expecting a £2k reissue.

Guitar has arrived today. I haven't had a chance to plug it in yet but first Impressions are it's gorgeous and sounds really lovely unplugged. I must say the built quality is absolutely first class.

Credit where it's due but the the neck feels thin compared to the neck on the late 54 duo jet I'm comparing it to. It's not a deal breaker but those 50s baseball bat necks are special.

I said I wasn't going to do this but COME ON GRETSCH.....VINTAGE SELECT!! wrong tuners, no nitro, wrong Bigsby, incorrect Pickguard,
I guess you really can't be bothered to get these little pernickity things
Correct and I guess most of the modern Gretsch players couldn't care less anyway and just enjoy a great playing and looking reissue but I mean the wrong tuners is just plain insulting to me! I SAID TO ME....

However that aside this is a top notch, high end build second to none. In terms of quality and playability it's faultless. If it said Steven Stern Custom Shop USA on the headstock I wouldn't beg to differ! It's as good as any custom shop build to me. 10 out of 10. Will I keep it? I doubt it but it won't because it's not built in Brooklyn or its not authentic sounding it will probably be because of the neck or a vintage peach comes along.

Most definitely not nitro. I have a couple of tiny whitish dings on the end of the headstock already.

I certainly wouldn’t mind if the neck were a bit heftier, but I don’t really think about that when I’m playing it. The fretwork on this guitar is particularly impressive; it has a perfect “fall-away’ at the highest frets, and fanatically close inspection with a fret-rocker revealed only two spots where a fret was less than 1/1000” higher than its neighbors. A few quick swipes with 800 grit sandpaper, a quick polish with 3200, and even those were gone.

The bridge was wildly over-compensated for the .011-.050 DR strings that I like. I completely re-sculpted it, but I was able to leave it where it’s pinned. I initially thought I would want .012s on it, but that might require a new bridge base or new holes in the existing one.

Overall, it’s a great guitar. As far as the pickguard goes, what little information I’ve been able to find indicates that a small number the very earliest of these guitars did indeed have plain white guards. I may replace it anyway, since I prefer the look of the three-ply. The tuners are fine with me, but Waverlys would be a nice touch.

The pick-ups and deeper body are the real distinguishing features of this guitar, though. There’s a lot of air in that body, and the T’Armonds sound about as good as anything I’ve ever heard, although the bridge could use a bit more low end. They are also kind of hard to over-drive, which is surprising for such loud pickups. Set the gain high enough, though, and they sound great. The pickups have very little hum in most situations, even with lots of gain and bass.

Mine’s definitely not going anywhere for the foreseeable future. It’s edged out my refin 1959 Jazzmaster as my number one for the last month or so.

@seadevil - If only Gretsch would just sort these little things out aggghhh its so annoying!! but that said its a total killer guitar. I've plugged it in now and it's screaming. Pretty noiseless pickups too wich is always nice. Lovely twaang and yes those T Armonds are really blistering. I'm really in too minds on wether this is a keeper. Just wish the neck was beefier. To me this guitar needs flats. Dare I say it's almost too twangy? I like the pinned bridge. The 54 is pinned down and it works really well if you can find the right spot on your guitar The tone on this is totally knockout and like you say the air in the body creates a really special guitar. It needs a fixed arm imo as you can play with a fixed arm really easily once you suss the method. In my view a fixed arm gives it a more solid tremelo. I'm really excited about this reissue. It just has to be the best modern Gretsch I've played and I'm including the custom shop guitars too.

I’ve thought of putting flats on it as well, but I’m trying to keep my operating costs under control. I only like Thomastik-Infeld Jazz Swing flats, and they’re neither cheap nor easy to get locally. They sound incredible with T-Armonds, though!

These are really nice guitars , bought mine last August and as mentioned the build quality is second to none. For me the Thomastik flats made a big difference on this guitar, not that it wasn't good before but a lot better after for what I wanted. Nearly bought the Cliff Gallup model (a hero of mine ) but to me this guitar was closer to what I was after especially with the T Armonds in there too .